The Pacifist
by Shadow Of Grace
Summary: Heiwa Uchiha. The youngest child of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha, the only sister of Itachi and Sasuke. She watched that fateful night when Itachi slaughtered the clan, and that same night, vowed to never take a life. However, unlike the bitter Sasuke, she began to seek out answers to why her kind and caring eldest brother would do such a thing. Then, she digs too deep.
1. Prologue

**A/N:**

**Grace: Well, this is officially the second time I'm uploading this chapter. I re-read the first version I put up, promptly decided it was shit, and spent the past few days re-writing it. I'm actually a bit ashamed I uploaded that crap, the sentence structure – or lack thereof – and general boringness almost made me cry. So here's hoping I did better this time. Oh, and everybody say hi to my awesome Beta, PhantomPrussia!**

**Phantom: Yo.**

**Grace: You turned into Kakashi-Sensei. . .**

**Phantom: Rolling the chapter!~**

_The Pacifist_

_Prologue_

The Uchiha compound was silent. No whispers were heard from the many houses. No crickets chirped from the bushes. No small rodents scurried through the undergrowth. It was almost as though the entire world were holding its breath, waiting and watching by the light of the full moon and gleaming stars. Suddenly, a quiet whimper of pain broke the stifling silence, followed by the soft murmurings of a mother.

Behind the rice paper walls of Fugaku Uchiha's home was the hunched form of the clan leader's wife, Mikoto, laid gently on a large bed with a small bundle clutched tightly in her arms, yet with gentleness only to be found in the kind embrace of a mother. Around the woman were three other figures, the tallest of which was sitting by his wife's side with one hand placed comfortingly on her shoulder and an unusual amount of emotion showing in his dark eyes. A small, sniffling child was clinging to Mikoto's other shoulder, childishly round face streaked with tears, onyx eyes red from crying and wide with confusion and pain. Nearly invisible in the shadow of the lone lantern stood the last figure, eyes closed tightly to hide the same pain that shone so brightly in his younger brother's eyes. Itachi would not cry, not now, not before his father and little brother. As the raven-haired boy's eyes slowly opened, they darted first to his mother's face, pain contorting her soft features and marring her beauty, but with the loving smile that never seemed to leave her still in place. Eyes lingering just a moment longer on the drops of crimson blood staining the crisp white sheets of the bed, Itachi turned his silent gaze toward the small bundle in his mother's arms, the small bundle that was a child. The child had the pale complexion and raven hair trademark of the Uchiha clan, however in place of the usual obsidian eyes, the infant girl's were a deep midnight blue just a few shades lighter than her mother's.

"Mikoto, just hold on a few more moments, the healer will be here any minute." Fugaku whispered from his place by his wife's side, voice revealing the pain he refused to show on his face due to his fierce Uchiha pride. Contrary to what many believed, Fugaku was not as emotionally dead as he appeared, and the dark-eyed Shinobi loved his wife very dearly. To see her in pain, shaking with exhaustion and coughing violently, sending small splatters of crimson to stain the white sheets, made the brave Uchiha leader die inside.

"We both know . . . they won't make it in time." Mikoto whispered, both her soft voice and caring smile weak, and her midnight eyes glassed with unshed tears held back in an effort to be strong for her children and husband one final time. There was a deep sadness in her voice that had nothing to do with her current state or the thought of her children being alone, but rather the vicious hatred beginning to burn between the Uchiha clan and the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

"Don't talk like that!" Sasuke whispered from his mother's side, clutching her shoulder tighter and burying his face in her white kimono to hide the tears streaming down his childish face.

"I'm afraid it's true, Sasuke." Mikoto whispered, the loving tone in her voice remaining strong even as a few drops of crimson blood leaked from the corner of her pale lips, painting them with a gruesome beauty.

Sasuke, barely two years of age, had no reply for his mother's words and instead buried his face deeper into the sleeve of her kimono, small frame shaking under the force of his sobs. At the sight of both his brother and mother in so much pain, Itachi quickly tilted his face toward the ground and away from the heart wrenching scene, not because he felt nothing, but because he wasn't sure he could watch anymore and not break down in a mass of tears himself. It had been trained into the boy that Shinobi showed no emotions, and though he was more open and relaxed around his brother and mother, the looming presence of Fugaku kept any thoughts of a display of emotion far from Itachi's mind.

"I'll be right back, Mikoto. I'm going to see what's keeping that medic." Fugaku whispered, pressing a kiss to his wife's forehead before standing slowly and giving his family a final glance. With the image of the three, now four, people he held dearest locked away in both his heart and mind, Fugaku raced from the house and into the cool spring night.

"Itachi . . . I . . . I want you to . . . to name her . . . name your sister for me, and care for her as you have . . . for Sasuke. Protect her . . . please. . ." Mikoto's voice was cracking, and another bout of violent coughs sent a cascade of blood across her chapped lips as she lifted the small bundle that was her daughter into a final, warm embrace, willing the infant to remember the moment forever. With shaky arms Mikoto pulled the child away and held her out to her eldest son, who quickly stepped forward and gathered the infant before he watched his mother slump forward, face hitting the sheets as she coughed again, this time more violently, to the point that a few stray tears leaked down the woman's face. She wiped them away with a shaking hand before giving a final glance to her children, the two boys whom she'd watched grow, and the infant daughter she would never know.

"Heiwa. Her name is Heiwa." Itachi said quietly, voice just above a whisper as he stared at the small child that was his sister. His words, however, fell upon deaf ears, for Mikoto's dark eyes were glazed with death, and her blood-painted lips were curved into a final loving smile.


	2. Author's Note

**Grace:**

**Hey everyone.**

**I'd like to start off with an apology for all of my readers. All of you really do mean a lot to me, every single hit on this story makes me smile. The faves and follows never fail to improve my mood, even when I'm having the shittiest of days, and if I could hug every one of you I would. You reviewers, though. . . you guys really are the ones that inspire me to get off my procrastinating and incredibly lazy ass to get some writing done, and every single one literally makes me dance around like a lunatic; my cousins must think I need to be locked up at this point.**

**Unfortunately, life is a bitch – as I'm sure you all know. After dealing with some rather severe bullying problems and more than one hospital visit, I've ended up moving. Now I'm in a different state entirely, and though things are quite a bit easier for me now, I'm still dealing with physical and mental after effects. Now, please note that I am ****NOT ****fishing for sympathy, I haven't a doubt in my mind that I can't even begin to fathom the troubles that other people have. At this point I simply feel obligated to my amazing readers to explain why the hell it's taking me so long to update.**

**Now that I'm finally getting settled properly and on the road to a decent recovery, I'd like to pick up my writing again. After reading through my assorted stories, I was left utterly disgusted by the all-round quality – or lack thereof – of nearly every chapter. Frankly, I'm rather surprised that no one has pointed out the shoddiness of my writing yet. **

**More to the point, I've decided to do a full re-write of every story. Needless to say, this is no small undertaking, especially with the nearly two dozen other fanfics that I haven't quite gotten around to posting. In order to make everything a bit easier for me, I've made an entirely new account. All re-written fics will be uploaded as I get to them, and I promise that each and every story I've published thus far WILL be gotten to eventually, though I can't say quite when. A link for my new account (Pen name Forsaken Paradise) can be found on my profile.**

**Again, I would like to thank each of my readers, favoriters, followers, and reviewers. All of you really have brought a bit of sunshine to my day – ironic given that it's storming at the moment – and I wish I could thank each of you individually, but unfortunately typing isn't very easy for me at the moment. Please do keep an eye out for the new version of this story, and I'll probably post a quick notice on here when I upload the fixed version. At the risk of being repetitive, thank you all for your support of my writing up to this point, and I hope to hear from you guys again. **

**Lots of love,**

**Grace.**


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